Introduction

This is the second volume of The Palgrave Handbook of International Political Theory where we continue to demonstrate the breadth of scholarship that constitutes International Political Theoryinternational political theory (IPT) (IPT). Where Volume I critically explored the contested originsorigin of the internationalinternational order, volume 2 explores a wide range of challenges this world orderworldworld order is now experiencing. Our contributors take the major ideasidea(s) that shape IPT—such as justice, strategic rivalryrivalrystrategic rivalry, legitimacy, fairnessfairness—and their antitheses, and apply to them the critical and normativenormative lenses that characterise the discipline. Below we explore the individualindividual contributions that fall into four sections, each of which takes a distinct approach to the subject and the scholarship that it can bring to bear.